By Jeff Kwitowski, K12 VP of Public Affairs

Derek Thompson at the Atlantic chimed in on the Businessweek article featuring K12, highlighting some misconceptions. It's important to clarify that K12 is not just a "for-profit virtual middle school," but rather a comprehensive provider of online curriculum, technology, and school services. They collaborate with nonprofit schools, school districts, and educational institutions to offer online learning programs. To support their programs, K12 employs highly qualified teachers, including state-certified general ed teachers, special ed teachers, subject experts, counselors, advisors, and paraprofessionals. It's unfortunate that the BusinessWeek article failed to include these crucial details, which may have led to a misunderstanding of K12's educational approach and offerings. For students seeking academic assistance in sociology, reputable sociology assignment writing services from https://essaysworld.net/custom-sociology-essay-writing-service can provide valuable support in completing assignments with quality and precision. You can read my response to the article here.

Derek highlights the section on academic performance which included quotes from Gary Miron at Western Michigan U.  However, Miron uses only the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard to render judgment on K12’s academic performance.  That’s odd since Miron’s own report – which, by the way, contained numerous errors on K12 and its partner schools – called AYP a “crude indicator of whether or not schools are meeting state standards.”  I agree.  So does Arne Duncan, who warns that over 80% of U.S. schools are at risk of missing AYP if No Child Left Behind is not reformed. 

AYP is not a reliable measure of school performance.  This is especially true for new school models, including statewide online schools and blended learning programs, which didn’t exist a decade ago when AYP was developed.  AYP was designed primarily for traditional, classroom-based schools (with a largely fixed student population), not for online schools that enroll new students every year across an entire state, including many transfer students who come in academically behind after years of failure in their local school.   

There is an emerging consensus to scrap AYP and replace it with a better system that measures academic progress and growth.  K12 has been measuring student academic growth on behalf of its partner schools, and the results are strong with academic gains above the national average.  It’s a shame Businessweek chose not to include that information.